UCSF Increases Consumer Value Through Optimal Vendor-Show Scheduling

Authors:
Andrew G. Clark;Susan Cholette;Ozgur Ozluk
Affiliations:
Strategic Sourcing Unit, University of California San Francisco, San Francisco, California 94143;Decision Science Department, San Francisco State University, San Francisco, California 94132;Decision Science Department, San Francisco State University, San Francisco, California 94132
Venue:
Interfaces
Year:
2011

Citing 9
Cited 0

On the solution of highly degenerate linear programs

Mathematical Programming: Series A and B
Information rules: a strategic guide to the network economy

Information rules: a strategic guide to the network economy
Assigning Season Tickets Fairly

Interfaces
Us Airways Optimizes the Scheduling of Reserve Flight Crews

Interfaces
Airline Crew Recovery

Transportation Science
Scheduling appointments at trade events for the Australian tourist commission

Interfaces
A Novel Problem for a Vintage Technique: Using Mixed-Integer Programming to Match Wineries and Distributors

Interfaces
An Optimization Model for Empty Freight Car Assignment at Union Pacific Railroad

Interfaces
Scheduling the Belgian Soccer League

Interfaces

Quantified Score

Hi-index	0.00

Visualization

Abstract

The University of California San Francisco (UCSF) spends approximately $600 million annually on goods and services. To lower the total cost of goods purchased while maintaining quality and service, UCSF Strategic Sourcing establishes strategic agreements with select vendors. These agreements are marketed to the campus community through vendor shows that allow vendors to showcase their value proposition directly to UCSF researchers and buyers. This paper formulates the creation of the UCSF vendor-show schedule as a bipartite matching problem with side constraints, which is then solved using a binary integer program. Of the 3,818 vendor-show combinations, the model identifies 153 optimal assignments and increases potential incentives by 62 percent compared to the manually generated 2007 schedule. The model also improves vendor diversity and selects the most suitable vendors for each show. Last, it dramatically reduces the time required to generate the schedule. Strategic Sourcing management is pleased with the results and implemented the model for the 2010 vendor-show season.